


Events Inbetween

by Romiress



Category: Monster (Manga)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, New Relationship, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sort of Post Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2019-01-15 13:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12321597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Romiress/pseuds/Romiress
Summary: Tenma and Grimmer start their relationship in a very vaguely defined timeline.





	Events Inbetween

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kenzooo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenzooo/gifts).



Tenma has always been of the opinion that people overestimate events. It’s rarely a single event that makes you decide anything. Normally things are a spectrum. Maybe a single event set something off, but Tenma’s firmly convinced that you can’t count that event for  _everything_.

There is no one event that made him want Grimmer.

It wasn’t the first time they slept together, crammed into a single bed since it was the only one available. It wasn’t the first time Grimmer woke him from his nightmares and held him while he cried. It wasn’t the first time that Grimmer wrapped himself around him as they fell asleep, curled together.

Tenma’s pretty sure it was all those things and everything in between them. 

He wants Grimmer in a way he hasn’t wanted anyone in a long while. He wants him in a way that makes him feel slightly sick. He knows it’s not wrong (because god, he’s definitely past that point, and has been past that point since he first had a crush on Hirotaka in middle school), but the fact that it’s  _Grimmer_  makes it something else.

Very few people would describe Grimmer as fragile, but Tenma would. Grimmer is strong and big but also terribly easy to break.

“Grimmer,” he says late one night. It’s so late he doubts Grimmer is awake, and a part of him hopes that it’s true. If Grimmer is asleep, there’s no chance he’ll wake him to say anything, and he’ll be able to put things off a bit longer.

“Tenma?”

Tenma forgets what he was going to say. Something important, he imagines. Something composed and dignified, well thought out and not spur of the moment. After a few moments, desperately grasping for the answer, he gives up.

“Can I kiss you?”

Grimmer makes a small noise in response, and Tenma immediately pulls back. Stupid of him--too fast and pushy on someone so cautious.

But for all his hesitation and worry, Grimmer seems to know what to do, reaching out to catch Tenma’s hand in his own.

Tenma can’t decide if he’s happy for the darkness or not. He can’t see Grimmer outside of a rough outline, which both saves him from being seen while he’s blushing, but also means he has no idea what Grimmer’s expression is like.

Does he have his fake smile on?

“What brought this on?” Grimmer asks, and Tenma can’t read anything from his voice. Is he upset? Angry?

Tenma doesn’t know what to say either, and tries desperately to backpedal rather than answering.

“We should go to sleep,” he says, his cowardice winning out.

He can hear Grimmer moving, shuffling around in the bed, but he isn’t prepared for the kiss when it comes. Grimmer is gentle and careful, but it still shocks him enough that he jerks backwards, breaking the kiss almost immediately.

He feels like his face is on fire. He feels like a schoolboy, struggling to get a grip on a  _crush_.

“You don’t even... you don’t even like men,” Tenma says. He knows that Grimmer married a woman, but his brain isn’t working fast enough to think about the circumstances of that marriage.

“I don’t like anyone,” Grimmer says, his voice flat. “Not like that. That doesn’t really change things, though.”

Grimmer’s hand rests in the small of his back, and Tenma sags against him despite himself. He wants the feeling of it, the warmth of Grimmer against him. And even if there are a million and one complications and things he should be thinking about, he lets himself go blank anyway, thinking of nothing at all.

Even if Tenma has no idea what he’s doing, Grimmer clearly does. He drags his free hand down Tenma’s side before shifting, leaning down for another kiss. This one lasts longer--Tenma isn’t counting, but it seems to last a long while--and Tenma likes it enough that it distracts him from the embarrassment of the situation.

“I love you,” he blurts out.

Grimmer doesn’t answer with words, instead pressing in for a second kiss. Tenma feels like he’s melting under it, his fingers tangling into the back of Grimmer’s shirt as he does.

“Stay with me,” he says. There’s no true meaning for it, nothing but simple desperation and fear that Grimmer might not be there in the morning.

The following morning he still is, and Grimmer doesn’t leave his side again.


End file.
